Brrr! And happy Friday...

Brrrr on this Thursday morning! We have a heavy frost in the low lying areas. I'm happy that I didn't plant everything early and have all those poor little seedlings get frosted. 

But that is weather in Wisconsin!

It is the big summer kickoff weekend. People are putting out flowers at cemeteries. Campers are filling the highways. Detours are everywhere.

Generally we stay home for this weekend. In years past, we had Rich's mom and his daughter's family out for a cookout that was super simple. Roasted hotdogs and beans with chips on the side. 

We put out the old picnic table and I put a fitted sheet on it as a table cloth. I used to fill it with bowls of peonies and mason jars of iris flowers for decorations. The kids would roast wieners over a tiny fire and we'd all eat at the table.
Afterward the kids and Grandpa would do S'mores or Marshmallows. 

Since Rich's folks are no longer with us, that no longer happens. Time moves on doesn't it?

Speaking of campers and such...

It looks like Mickey and Minnie are setting off on a camping trip!

It sure doesn't look like a good road Mickey!

Uh Oh! Turn around, don't try it!

Well, they found a spot finally.

and...it looks like they have some friends that joined them to roast marshmallows.

We shall see what the weekend brings!

I know it will include climbing a bluff in the predawn and coffee overlooking a valley 100 feet below.

AND...

because I was feeling somewhat like a super hero all week, I had some fun with the gal who trims my hair....

All I need is a cape. But my Mickey Mouse jacket will do for the time being.

Infrared IRChrome Filter

Ahhh. More infrared.

There is something so interesting and fascinating to me about another light spectrum.

There are no boundaries.

The sky can be blue.

Or some hue of cyan. Perhaps an orange hued color?

The leaves and grass are not green.They can be white or pink...or perhaps you fancy yellow?

It all depends on the filter you choose to use and any post processing.

The above 3 photos were shot with a 665nm Filter. The sky usually turns out a pleasing bluish color after a channel swap. The leaves can be pinkish or white. Or if you really want to change things up, with the Viveza you can almost make it any color in the light spectrum.

I got the filter I've been lusting after for about a year now. It is an IR Chrome digital filter meant to let your camera take a digital photo much like the Kodak IRChrome film. The film was very expensive and not simple to develop. It was created to see camouflage clothes against the backround of foliage. I should do an experiment with that.

I bet my camo clothes would not reflect light in the same manner.

Anyway.

Here is some of my first works with the IR Chrome Filter. 

I took Tuesday off for a 'self' adventure. I wanted to just go somewhere were I didn't have to guide someone or even have to give a time as when I would be back.

That was my birthday gift to myself.

And it was a good one.

I used DxO software to work with this. When this company purchased the NIK software from Google, they did a great job of developing it further.

Below is a couple of shots from this morning. Not the classic IR Chrome shots you will see displayed on photo sites.

I do my own thing.

This has to be one of my favorite of the day. Partly because it is so vivid and surreal.

The real light of this moment was like this:

This was taken with my regular camera. I do love this one as it represents how the creek and the air above the creek react to the hot sun.

Fog.

Yet. The Infrared is so wildly different! 

I didn't get the typical IRChrome shot.

It would look more like this:

Bright blue sky and bright blue waters.

And there you have it for now. Since Tuesday, I've been trying to just peer at the news and not become so engrossed in it that I cannot sleep at night.

I don't have the answers and I sure wish I did.

Making Peace with Winter

Monday morning I was rather displeased with winter. I had 5 drifts covering the lower section of the driveway. The drifts were like concrete and two of them rather deep.
The temperatures were hovering at 3 degrees, my Subaru was parked where the water flowed before the freeze up. The driveway near the house was one huge mix of ice ruts and I couldn't see the roof vent for the toilet.

I was so frustrated I took my little shovel and walked towards the biggest drift. I heard the town truck go by up on the ridge and sighed. I considered running up there and asking for help but decided that IF necessary, I would warm up the skidsteer or plea with my neighbor to help.
Soon the plow made its turn around and he backed down our driveway sanding the hill.
He stopped and got out to look at the drifts.
We talked for a few minutes and he was kind enough not to laugh at my little puny shovel.

He drove back up the hill and came down and plowed the drifts with a vengeance. Snow flew high and into the yard. He'd asked if I cared about my yard ... I said Absolutely NOT! Dump the snow in it, mess it up, I do not care at all. Yards can be fixed.

By the time he left my mood had brightened. I returned to scrapping snow off the roof so it would slide down. I made lunch for Rich and announced that I needed to go for a hike. The snow was crusted enough for Charlie to walk on top and perfect for snowshoe hiking.

Mister Charlie. He is wearing his beeper collar. He gets distracted by his nose and sometimes doesn't want to come. It is a good way to break his concentration. Plus the rattle of the treat bag helps.

My cousin has a Dachshund and she calls them low riders. Most Dachshunds are known for a bit of a stubborn streak. She also said that cold was tough on little Low Riders. Indeed. Charlie seems to be okay so far and I don't take him out in subzero weather no matter how much he asks. And he is getting a coat, it just has not arrived.

Charlie got stuck in a trail and didn't want to forge through the soft snow in the creek bottom here. He waited for me to break a trail for him.
Smart little dog.

We did walk down along the creek edge. Saturday everything was melting. Monday though, it was as if a flash freeze had occurred.

Walking on the edge of the creek wasn't too bad. I carried my snow shoes which was awkward.
We didn't go far and Charlie kept running ahead 'rock leaping' across the water and leading the way. He seemed quite confident in knowing the way to go.

I wanted to get into the other half of the creek to take some more shots but having Charlie to watch over and getting distracted by the scenery was something I decided not to do. I'd come back and do that part solo.

I put my snow shoes on and literally climbed like a rock climber up an old deer trail, knee deep in snow and sliding backwards with each step. Charlie followed me.

We made it home following the trail I'd broken on Saturday, the surface and the edges were very crunchy, the result of the heavy rains and then the quick freeze.

So I looked down as we left the valley and decided that perhaps winter wasn't such a horrid thing after all.

Charlie bounded ahead on the trail. He knows the paths now and seems to be a bit more adventurous. He came back and asked to be picked up when we got to the meadow. Over the years I've known that the woods to the east have had coyote dens in them. I picked him up and we forged our way home.

Both of us pleased and refreshed.

Busy as a bee ... I think.

The Garden is going crazy!
Of course 4 inches of rain last week probably contributed to that aspect.

It appears that I'll have a good crop of squash again this year...that is Winter Squash.
I have been picking an ice cream bucket full of green beans almost everyother day now.

The sun and heat last week between the rains burned the lettuce and a few other plants in the garden.
The cosmos is growing tall above the Squash plants.  The sweet corn? I don't know, this is my first time at doing that. I am told by a neighbor who fences his in and electrifies his patch that I should expect the ravages of raccoon.

We'll see what happens right?

Yesterday we had the farrier came and worked on the donkeys. We put everyone in a nice shady area so he and his son would not be in the hot sun.

The donkeys were extremely good and that pleased the farriers to no end.

This morning I was up very early. I decided to brave the fog and make a trip to Black Bottom Creek and take a few shots.

And I stopped at an oat field on my way back home.
The oats are ripe!